1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the generation, customization, distribution, and presentation of an interactive audio publication wherein interactive audio content is generated from text-based and speech-based content.
2. Background Art
Individuals are increasingly consuming news on-the-go in many forms. The explosive growth in mobile computing devices such as smart phones, portable media players (PMPs), and netbooks has fueled demand for news content that can be accessed anywhere and anytime. Digital versions of newspapers and news magazines can be downloaded for visual presentation on mobile electronic devices, and daily audio podcasts cover a wide variety of topics.
While visually-oriented online news content offerings are vast, varied, and dynamic, they do not provide busy multitasking individuals with convenient news consumption opportunities. Online newspapers and news magazines, for example, provide coverage on a variety of topics in multiple levels of detail, but due to the visual and “page-based” nature of these media, they cannot be utilized fully or effectively while driving, exercising, or otherwise multitasking.
Audio news content ranges from traditional broadcast radio news programs to prerecorded audio podcasts and live streaming audio feeds that can be presented on mobile computing devices. Audio news content is especially well-suited for consumption while multitasking, but it lacks sufficient interactivity. For example, with broadcast radio, an individual's interactivity is limited to changing the channel. While podcasts and Internet streaming radio offer slightly more interactivity, individuals are still limited to the standard navigation functions (e.g., next/previous track, seek forward/backward, etc.) provided by a media player. Furthermore, navigating an audio podcast using a media player's controls is cumbersome and even dangerous when performing other activities, such as driving.
Recently, the navigability and usability of podcasts has improved. For example, Apple, Inc. created “enhanced podcasts” which combine traditional audio podcasts with embedded chapter information, enabling intra-podcast navigation. Enhanced podcasts also allow visual content to be synchronized for display during podcast presentation. Similarly, the MP3 standard offers “ID3v2 Chapter” tags to enable both intra-audio file navigation and synchronized visual content presentation, although the tags are not widely supported by media players. Despite these enabling technologies, a user must still fumble with media player controls and menus to navigate through enhanced audio content. Furthermore, a standard method for segmenting audio news content does not exist.
Clearly, there is a need for an interactive audio publication system that combines the dynamic qualities of visually-oriented news media with the presentation flexibility of audio news media.
There is also a need for alternative news consumption techniques for the elderly and for individuals with impaired vision. While audio versions of newspapers are available for the visually impaired (e.g., the National Federation of the Blind provides telephone access to audio versions of newspapers created using text-to-speech technology), they support only limited interactivity and have a cumbersome interface that uses a telephone keypad.
Companies such as BuzzVoice and Stitcher currently allow users to customize audio news content for playback via the Web or a portable media player. BuzzVoice uses computerized text-to-speech (TTS) technology to convert text-based content into audio podcasts, while Stitcher allows users to create a playlist of selected audio podcasts that is then streamed to their media player. Both companies focus on customized audio news content, but neither provides a combination of customization and audio content interactivity.